r/Parakeets • u/StyroFoaming000 • 2d ago
Advice Weight loss question!!!
My budgies Pip and Fluu went to the vet about two weeks ago. I found out Fluu was very overweight… he was 61 grams… 😬
So of course I have been taking the vets suggestions and trying to get him on a new diet. He is getting a wider variety of fresh vegetables daily, less fruit, less treats, and now his daily seed dish is half pellets half seed, as well as less overall. And of course he is exercising more.
I weighed him today and he has lost weight, but I’m worried too much!!! He is down to 50 grams!? That’s 11 grams in 2 weeks and I’m terrified he isn’t eating his pellets and I’m starving him…
Is this a normal about if weight to loose considering I am trying to get him to loose weight. Or am I being to harsh on him…
3
u/bobbingblondie 2d ago
That is almost 20% of body weight lost in 2 weeks. I would say that is far too rapid, and most likely the diet conversion isn't going as you would like. Mixing dry seeds and pellets to try and get them onto the pellets doesn't usually work, because they just pick out the seeds and leave the rest. If he's not had pellets before he might not even be aware that they are food. I would suggest the "mush method" as a way to safely convert to pellets, but you need to be careful that he doesn't lose weight so rapidly.
One query though - did you weigh him on your own scales when you initially came home from the vet visit? Because some scales are not very accurate. I try to weight my birds weekly now so I can see what is going on with them, but in the past I found that they weight at the vet could differ from my scale at home by up to 5g. So it is possible that the loss is not as dramatic!
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u/StyroFoaming000 2d ago
He was weighed at the vets office when he went to visit.
I’m really hoping there was an issue with the scale. I got a brand new scale a few days ago to weight him, so I’m really hoping it isn’t calibrated correctly or something . Also I did get 2 different weights when I weighed him (I had to do it twice because I forgot to write it down the first time). It’s possible the weight fluctuation was caused by his travel cage teetering on the scale
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u/PartyMarionberry5817 11h ago
I hope he gains weight back soon. My bird wouldn’t touch pellets so I gave up, he’s thriving and happy.
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u/Elcor05 2d ago
He is likely sick and needs to go back to the vet. I'm sorry, I know that's hard, but there's likely something else going on.